Claes Hake's memorial for the dead, unveiled on the tenth anniversary of the fire in late-October 2008.

The Gothenburg discothèque fire was a devastating fire caused by an arson attack on October 29, 1998, which occurred in premises located on Hisingen island in Gothenburg, Sweden. These had been rented for the night by an organization catering to the Macedonian community in Gothenburg for the purpose of hosting a discothèque. 375 young people aged 12–25 years old were present in the premises at the time that the fire started, the vast majority of which had various ethnic minority backgrounds. The premises had been estimated by the fire department as safe for only 150 people. 63 people were killed during the incident and around 200 people were injured.

Contents

The fire started on the premises of the Macedonian organization on the third floor, where a discothèque for secondary school students had been arranged to celebrate Halloween.[1][2] It was set in a stairway serving the club's emergency exit. As a result, the emergency exit was blocked, and a single stairway became the only available escape route. Many young people were forced to jump out windows to safety, but since these were 2.2 metres (7.2 feet) above floor level and 5 metres (16 feet) above ground level outside the building, many were injured in the process.[3][4] Furthermore, fire safety standards were generally poor at the site.

The first emergency call arrived at 23:42, but due to the background noise, it was some time before the operator could understand what the caller was trying to say. At 23:45 a so-called "major call-out" took place from a fire station on the island, and four minutes later the first rescue team arrived on the scene. Six other fire crews were dispatched a short time afterwards. About 60 young people were rescued by firefighters with self-contained breathing apparatus, 40 of which were led down the staircase and 20 carried out through the windows. Others managed to escape on their own.[4]

A total of 63 young people were killed and 213 were injured, of whom 50 seriously.[4] For some time afterwards, it could not be determined whether the fire had been accidental or caused by an arson attack, but speculation soon started that the fire, whose victims were mainly immigrants, had been started by xenophobic or racist Swedes. Posters were distributed around Gothenburg with the text "60 young immigrants have died, now 60 Swedes must die."[5] It was later ascertained that the four suspected arsonists were themselves immigrants from Iran.[6][7][8]

On June 1, 1999, it was reported that two suspects had been arrested but later released. In December 1999, a reward of 3 million kronor was offered for information that might help to ascertain the cause of the fire.[9] At that time, no one was sure how the fire had started, despite over 1,400 people being questioned by the Swedish police. Later that month, the police also appealed for leads on a national TV show. In January 2000, three suspects were eventually taken into custody by the police, and in February a fourth was arrested. However, these had been suspected of starting the fire before the reward had even been offered. No preliminary investigation was ever started against the party's arrangers.

The fire had been set by four teenagers aged 17–19, who had been denied entry to the disco as a result of an argument. All four were charged and found guilty of aggravated arson, and the firestarter, Shoresh Kaveh, was sentenced by the district court in 2000 to eight years' imprisonment. Two others, Housein Arsani and Mohammad Mohammadamini, were sentenced to six years in prison, while the fourth, Meysam Mohammadyeh, who was a minor at the time of the offence, received three years in a juvenile care facility. Both the defendants and the prosecution appealed the sentences. The court of appeals upheld two of the verdicts, but the two verdicts of six years' imprisonment were raised to seven years.

Mohammadyeh, nicknamed the youngest by the press, was represented by Leif Silbersky. It was established that the other three suspects were friends, and although Mohammadyeh had wanted to become friends with two of them, he was afraid of Kaveh.[10] Silbersky asked for Mohammadyeh to be acquitted, as in his opinion thought Mohammadyeh should not be held legally responsible for his passivity.[11] The court of appeals, however, considered it proven that the four "had mutually agreed to ruin the party by starting a fire", and that it was of "decisive importance with regards to the question of guilt that it had not been possible to prove that no other person or persons than Kaveh had torn the paper or started the fire in the stairway."[10] Professor Christian Diesen is of the opinion that it is possible that Mohammadyeh had "become involved in a sequence of events he had no control over and would have been judged differently if the fire had not had such devastating consequences."[12] The penalties can be seen as low in international comparison, but Swedish law at the time had maximum 8 years prison for aged 18-20 (10 years (now 18 years) or lifetime for aged 21+) which was given to the leader. Those under 18 are given prison only for severe violent crimes, max 4 years.

Relatives of the victims later founded the non-profit organizationBOA (association for the relatives of the fire victims), which later for example was in contact with the relatives of victims in a similar discothèque fire in Volendam, The Netherlands, and offered support to relatives of victims of the 2004 tsunami. The fire department in Gothenburg, as well as survivors and relatives of victims, also provide information to raise awareness among young people of how quickly a small fire can spread and the potential consequences.[4]

On the tenth anniversary of the fire in 2008, a permanent memorial was unveiled, made out of polished granite with the name and age of each victim engraved in gold. The monument was placed at Backaplan in the part of Hisingen where the fire occurred. It was designed by the artist Claes Hake.

1.
Sweden
–
Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe

2.
Fire
–
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition, at a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames are produced. The flame is the portion of the fire. Flames consist primarily of carbon dioxide, water vapor, oxygen and nitrogen, if hot enough, the gases may become ionized to produce plasma. Depending on the substances alight, and any impurities outside, the color of the flame, Fire in its most common form can result in conflagration, which has the potential to cause physical damage through burning. Fire is an important process that affects ecological systems around the globe, the positive effects of fire include stimulating growth and maintaining various ecological systems. The negative effects of fire hazard to life and property, atmospheric pollution. If fire removes protective vegetation, heavy rainfall may lead to an increase in soil erosion by water and this is commonly called the fire tetrahedron. Fire cannot exist without all of elements in place and in the right proportions. For example, a liquid will start burning only if the fuel. Some fuel-oxygen mixes may require a catalyst, a substance that is not consumed, when added, in any chemical reaction during combustion, but which enables the reactants to combust more readily. Without gravity, a fire rapidly surrounds itself with its own products and non-oxidizing gases from the air. Because of this, the risk of fire in a spacecraft is small when it is coasting in inertial flight, of course, this does not apply if oxygen is supplied to the fire by some process other than thermal convection. Fire can be extinguished by removing any one of the elements of the fire tetrahedron, consider a natural gas flame, such as from a stovetop burner. In contrast, fire is intensified by increasing the rate of combustion. In many cases, such as the burning of organic matter, for wood, or the incomplete combustion of gas. This light has a continuous spectrum, complete combustion of gas has a dim blue color due to the emission of single-wavelength radiation from various electron transitions in the excited molecules formed in the flame. Usually oxygen is involved, but hydrogen burning in chlorine produces a flame

3.
Macedonians (ethnic group)
–
The Macedonians, also known as Macedonian Slavs or Slavic Macedonians, are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the region of Macedonia. They speak the Macedonian language, a South Slavic language, about two thirds of all ethnic Macedonians live in the Republic of Macedonia and there are also communities in a number of other countries. The origins of Macedonians are varied and rich, in antiquity, much of central-northern Macedonia was inhabited by Paionians who expanded from the lower Strymon basin. The Pelagonian plain was inhabited by the Pelagones, an ancient Greek tribe of Upper Macedonia, Roman conquest brought with it a significant Romanization of the region. During the Dominate period, barbarian federates were at times settled on Macedonian soil, in contrast to frontier provinces, Macedonia continued to be a flourishing Christian, Roman province in Late Antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Traditional historiography has equated these changes with the commencement of raids and invasions of Sclaveni and Antes from Wallachia, the exact details and chronology of population shifts remain to be determined. What is beyond dispute is that, in contrast to Bulgaria, northern Macedonia remained Roman in its cultural outlook into the 7th century, yet at the same time, sources attest numerous Slavic tribes in the environs of Thessaloniki and further afield, including the Berziti in Pelagonia. Apart from Slavs and late Byzantines, the settlement of Kuvers Pannonian Bulgars- a mix of Roman Christians, Bulgars and Avars- populated the Keramissian plain around Bitola in the late 7th century. Later pockets of settlers included Magyars in the 9th century, Armenians in the 10th-12th centuries, Cumans in the 11th-13th centuries, subsequently, the literary and ecclesiastical centres in Ohrid, not only became a second cultural capital of medieval Bulgaria, but soon eclipsed those in Preslav. Many aspects which now define Macedonian culture are a culmination of the so-called Byzantine commonwealth which consisted of Medieval Byzantine, Cultural, ecclesiastical and political developments of Slav Orthodox Culture occurred in Macedonia itself. Anthropologically, Macedonians possess genetic lineages postulated to represent Balkan prehistoric and historic demographic processes, such lineages are also typically found in other South Slavs, especially Bulgarians, Serbs, Bosniaks, Montenegrins, but also to the Greeks and Romanians. The large majority of Macedonians identify as Orthodox Christians, who speak a South Slavic language, the concept of a Macedonian ethnicity, distinct from their Orthodox Balkan neighbours, is seen to be a comparatively newly emergent one. The earliest manifestation of a Macedonian identity emerged in the late 19th century, however, modern researchers recognize that all nations are modern constructs. Even ethnic groups with long recorded history are characterized by marked discontinuity with the ancient past, heather Rae summarizes that Macedonian identity is no more or less artificial than any other identity. It merely has a more recent ethnogenesis – one that can more easily be traced through the recent historical record. During the formative Middle Ages, there was no distinct ethno-political Macedonian identity, references to Macedonians were varied, from geographical to administrative one. The Byzantine historians categorized the numerous Slavic tribal unions on the early Medieval Balkans as Sclavinias, in the ninth century, Theophanes the Confessor reported that the emperor Constantine V captured the Macedonian Sklavinias in the year 758-759. The modern Macedonian historians have described it as kind of primary ethno-political entity

4.
Nightclub
–
A nightclub is an entertainment venue and bar which serves alcoholic beverages that usually operates late into the night. Another distinction is that whereas many pubs and sports bars aim at a market, nightclubs typically aim at a niche market of music and dancing enthusiasts. The upmarket nature of nightclubs can be seen in the inclusion of VIP areas in some nightclubs, for celebrities, nightclubs are much more likely than pubs or sports bars to use bouncers to screen prospective clubgoers for entry. Some nightclub bouncers do not admit people with ripped jeans or other clothing or gang apparel as part of a dress code. The busiest nights for a nightclub are Friday and Saturday night, most clubs or club nights cater to certain music genres, such as house music or gothic rock. A nightclub may also be called a discothèque, disco, or dance club, from about 1900 to 1920, working class Americans would gather at honky tonks or juke joints to dance to music played on a piano or a jukebox. Webster Hall is credited as the first modern nightclub, being built in 1886 and starting off as a hall, originally functioning as a home for dance. During Prohibition in the United States, nightclubs went underground as illegal speakeasy bars, with Webster Hall staying open, with rumors circulating of Al Capones involvement and police bribery. With the repeal of Prohibition in February 1933, nightclubs were revived, such as New Yorks 21 Club, Copacabana, El Morocco, in Germany, possibly the first discothèque was Scotch-Club. These discothèques were also patronized by anti-Vichy youth called zazous, there were also underground discothèques in Nazi Germany patronized by anti-Nazi youth called the swing kids. In Harlem, Connies Inn and the Cotton Club were popular venues for white audiences, before 1953 and even some years thereafter, most bars and nightclubs used a jukebox or mostly live bands. The Whisky à Gogo set into place the elements of the modern post World War II discothèque-style nightclub. At the end of the 1950s, several of the bars in Soho introduced afternoon dancing. In the early 1960s, Mark Birley opened a members-only discothèque nightclub, Annabels, in Berkeley Square, in 1962, the Peppermint Lounge in New York City became popular and is the place where go-go dancing originated. However, the first rock and roll generation preferred rough and tumble bars and taverns to nightclubs, disco has its roots in the underground club scene. It brought together people from all walks of life and backgrounds and these clubs acted as safe havens for homosexual partygoers to dance in peace and away from public scrutiny. Disco allowed patrons to explore sexuality and push the envelope on the dance floor, disco clubs acted as an escape from such depressing environments and acted as the fantasy marginalized peoples could escape to forget oppression and racism. Disco clubs originally functioned as liberated party spaces and were seen as places of political statement, a smooth mix of long single records to keep people dancing all night long

5.
Fire department
–
Other life safety services, such as technical rescue, hazardous materials, and emergency medical services may also be provided by the agency. In the United States a fire brigade is the private firefighting organization of a company or enterprise, a fire department usually contains one or more fire stations within its boundaries, and may be staffed by career firefighters, volunteer firefighters, or a combination thereof. A fire department may provide fire protection or fire prevention services, whereby firefighters visit homes and give fire safety advice. In many countries fire protection or prevention is seen as an important role for the service, as preventing a fire from occurring in the first place can save lives. Fire departments are organized in a system of administration, services, training, and operations, for example, Administration is responsible for supervision, budgets, policy, Service offers protection, safety, and education to the public. Training prepares skilled people with the knowledge to perform their duties, operations performs the tasks to successfully save the public from harm. Larger departments have branches within themselves to increase efficiency, composed of volunteers, support, volunteers give advantages to the department in a state of emergency. Support organizing the resources within and outside of the department, research is to give advantages in new technologies for the department. A fire departments jurisdiction is organized by the body that controls the department. This comes from a municipality, county, prefecture, state, province, the most common type of government control is at the municipality level. The jurisdiction size and organisation would be set up by a department or the government in charge of these duties and this deals with the placement of fire stations, equipment, and personnel within the area of control. Fire departments periodically survey their areas and use the data for redeploying proper coverage. This data comes from time, range from station, and/or a population survey. This brings equal service to the community and gives the department efficient places to launch operations. The earliest known firefighting service was formed in Ancient Rome by Egnatius Rufus who used his slaves to provide a fire service. These men fought fires using bucket chains and also patrolled the streets with the authority to impose corporal punishment upon those who violated fire-prevention codes, the Emperor Augustus established a public fire department in 24 BCE, composed of 600 slaves distributed amongst seven fire stations in Rome. Fire departments were formed by property insurance companies beginning in the 17th century after the Great Fire of London in 1666. The first insurance brigades were established the following year, each company had its own fire mark, a durable plaque that would be affixed to the building exterior

6.
Halloween
–
It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints, martyrs, and all the faithful departed. Some academics, however, support the view that Halloween began independently as a solely Christian holiday. Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows Eve, a reflected in the eating of certain foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes. The word Halloween or Halloween dates to about 1745 and is of Christian origin, the word Halloween means hallowed evening or holy evening. It comes from a Scottish term for All Hallows Eve, in Scots, the word eve is even, and this is contracted to een or een. Over time, Hallow Een evolved into Halloween, although the phrase All Hallows is found in Old English All Hallows Eve is itself not seen until 1556. Todays Halloween customs are thought to have influenced by folk customs and beliefs from the Celtic-speaking countries. Samhain was the first and most important of the four days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and was celebrated on 31 October–1 November in Ireland, Scotland. A kindred festival was held at the time of year by the Brittonic Celts, called Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Kalan Gwav in Cornwall and Kalan Goañv in Brittany. For the Celts, the day ended and began at sunset, Samhain and Calan Gaeaf are mentioned in some of the earliest Irish and Welsh literature. The names have been used by historians to refer to Celtic Halloween customs up until the 19th century, samhain/Calan Gaeaf marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the darker half of the year. Like Beltane/Calan Mai, it was seen as a liminal time and this meant the Aos Sí, the spirits or fairies, could more easily come into our world and were particularly active. Most scholars see the Aos Sí as degraded versions of ancient gods whose power remained active in the minds even after they had been officially replaced by later religious beliefs. The Aos Sí were both respected and feared, with individuals often invoking the protection of God when approaching their dwellings, at Samhain, it was believed that the Aos Sí needed to be propitiated to ensure that the people and their livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink, or portions of the crops, were left outside for the Aos Sí, the souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. Places were set at the table and by the fire to welcome them. The belief that the souls of the return home on one night of the year. In 19th century Ireland, candles would be lit and prayers offered for the souls of the dead

7.
Stairs
–
A stairway, staircase, stairwell, flight of stairs, or simply stairs is a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing it into smaller vertical distances, called steps. Stairs may be straight, round, or may consist of two or more straight pieces connected at angles, special types of stairs include escalators and ladders. Some alternatives to stairs are elevators, stairlifts and inclined moving walkways as well as stationary inclined sidewalks, a stair, or a stairstep is one step in a flight of stairs. In buildings, stairs is a term applied to a flight of steps between two floors. A stair flight is a run of stairs or steps between landings, a staircase or stairway is one or more flights of stairs leading from one floor to another, and includes landings, newel posts, handrails, balustrades and additional parts. A stairwell is a compartment extending vertically through a building in which stairs are placed. A stair hall is the stairs, landings, hallways, or other portions of the hall through which it is necessary to pass when going from the entrance floor to the other floors of a building. Box stairs are stairs built between walls, usually with no support except the wall strings, Stairs may be in a straight run, leading from one floor to another without a turn or change in direction. Stairs may change direction, commonly by two flights connected at a 90 degree angle landing. Stairs may also return onto themselves with 180 degree angle landings at each end of straight flights forming a vertical stairway commonly used in multistory, many variations of geometrical stairs may be formed of circular, elliptical and irregular constructions. Stairs may be a component of egress from structures and buildings. Stairs are also provided for convenience to access floors, roofs, levels, Stairs may also be a fanciful physical construct such as the stairs that go nowhere located at the Winchester Mystery House. Stairs are also a used in art to represent real or imaginary places built around impossible objects using geometric distortion. Stairway is also a metaphor for achievement or loss of a position in the society. Each step is composed of tread and riser, tread The part of the stairway that is stepped on. It is constructed to the specifications as any other flooring. The tread depth is measured from the edge of the step to the vertical riser between steps. The width is measured from one side to the other, riser The vertical portion between each tread on the stair

8.
Fire station
–
It may also have dormitory living facilities and work areas for the use of fire fighters. Living areas are arranged above the garage bays where personnel without specific station duties during the night shift are allowed to sleep unless a dispatch is called. In that situation, firefighters may have special means to allow entry to the floor quickly when a call for help is received. This arrangement also allows for an area to hang hoses to dry to prevent damage. In a single station, a tower-like structure is sometimes used for hose hanging. An occupied station will usually have an alarm system for receiving and annunciating an alarm. However, sometimes the only alarm is a telephone that is rung in case of emergency. In a volunteer fire department where volunteers do not staff the station, in a more structured operation, full-time or on-call volunteer or career firefighters staff the station some or all of the time. There may be office space for the officers, a library of reference and other materials, activities in a fire station include regular inspection and cleaning of the apparatus and equipment, and continuing education in the fire service. Weekly or bi-weekly routine typically includes various drills in which practice their skills. The approaches to a station are often posted with warning signs. In larger cities fire stations are named for the primary fire companies and apparatus housed there, such as Ladder 49. Rural fire stations are named for the county, town or village. Fire department Firemans pole Olathe, Kan, Fire Department West Jackson Fire Department, GA Raleigh and Wake County, NC fire departments Killorglin Fire & Rescue, County Kerry, Ireland

9.
Firefighter
–
In some areas, they are also trained in Emergency Medical Services and operate ambulances in addition to being a firefighter. The fire service, or fire and rescue service, also known in countries as the fire brigade or fire department, is one of the three main emergency services. Firefighting and firefighters have become ubiquitous around the world, from wildlands to urban areas, according to Merriam-Websters Dictionary, the English word firefighter has been used since 1903. In urban areas across the world the population is protected by paid full time firefighters. The goals of firefighting are, As such, the skills required for operations are regularly practiced during training evaluations throughout a firefighters career. In the United States, the preeminent fire training and standards organization is the National Fire Protection Association, often initial firefighting skills are taught during a local, regional, or state approved fire academy. Depending on the requirements of a department, additional skills and certifications such as technical rescue, Firefighters work closely with other emergency response agencies, most particularly local and state police departments. The increasing role of firefighters in providing medical services also brings firefighters into common overlap with law enforcement. One example of this is a state law requiring all gunshot wounds to be reported to law enforcement agencies. Fire fighting has some skills, prevention, self-preservation, rescue, preservation of property, basic first aid. Firefighting is further broken down into skills which include size-up, extinguishing, ventilation, salvage, wildland firefighting includes size up, containment, extinguishment, and mop up. Search and Rescue, which has already mentioned, is performed early in any fire scenario and many times is in unison with extinguishing. Fire suppression systems have a record for controlling and extinguishing unwanted fires. Many fire officials recommend that every building, including residences, have sprinkler systems. Correctly working sprinklers in a residence greatly reduce the risk of death from a fire, with the small rooms typical of a residence, one or two sprinklers can cover most rooms. Other methods of prevention are by directing efforts to reduce known hazardous conditions or by preventing dangerous acts before tragedy strikes. Tools are generally carried at all times and are important for not only forcible entry, a self-contained breathing apparatus delivers air to the firefighter through a full face mask and is worn to protect against smoke inhalation, toxic fumes, and super heated gases. The PASS device sounds an alarm that can assist another firefighter, Firefighters often carry personal self-rescue ropes

Mass murder is the act of murdering a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of …

Twenty-six republicans were killed by fascists that belonged to Franco's Nationalists at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, between August and September 1936. This mass grave is located in Estépar, a small town in Northern Spain. The excavation occurred in July–August 2014.